Thursday, May 13, 2010

Querying what you don't believe in

Found today on Twitter, from @Ginger_Clark with the #pubtip hashtag:

People, don't start your query disparaging science fiction to me. I will have to cut you for it. #pubtip


I find this fascinating.  I mean, I get that some people will write a novel out of cynicism; writing in a genre out of a belief that it's what sells, rather than the genre being a passion that drives the writer.  I don't do that, but I get it, that belief that if you want to sell, you have to write what's selling.  But to not only take that to the point of believing, "What sells is this genre crap, so I wrote genre crap"-- i.e., not really believing in your work, but to actually ADMIT that as a selling point to an agent who states outright that they ENJOY that genre?  Now that's just dumb.  And if you're going to be cynical AND dumb, I can't see you going far in this world.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

some people will write a novel out of cynicism

Speaking of which, have you read HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST by Steve Hely? Pretty funny.

Marshall Ryan Maresca said...

OK, looking that up was worth it just for his mock NYT Bestseller's List: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/marketing/abna/Hely-NYT-list.pdf

I may have to pick that up.